The California Transportation Commission announced that a total of $87.7 million in Trade Corridor Enhancement Program grants was awarded to Senate District 29 for two critical infrastructure improvement projects. Diamond Bar was awarded $22 million to provide relief for the Route 57-60 confluence and Brea was awarded $65.7 million for improvements to State Route 57 Lambert Road Interchange.
The grant funds awarded to Brea and Diamond Bar are generated from a combination of revenue from Senate Bill 1 and federal freight highway program funds. State Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) supported Senate Bill 1 last year, which deliberately sets aside $300 million a year to fund TCEP projects at the state level. Senator Newman was instrumental in getting Brea's project noticed and ensuring that the City got its fair share of transportation funding.
The SR 57/Lambert Interchange Project has been the highest priority traffic improvement project for the City for the past several decades and will significantly improve traffic flow, enhance safety, reduce congestion and correct deficiencies of the interchange and its interaction with the surrounding road system.
Brea has committed over $12 million for the project from its local mitigation funds and had also recently obtained over $12 million from 2018 OCTA Measure M2 Funds for construction.
Caltrans and the City are working on completing the Plans and Specifications for the Project with the goal to finish this task by late August of this year. We are also working diligently to secure all right-of-way for the Project, which is fully funded by OCTA Measure M2 funds and our own local mitigation funds. The funding awarded by the California Transportation Commission will soon make this project a reality.